[Jens]

Hi Hugh,

Enough talk - now I just want to know when you can deliver a NAKSA to me

[AKSA]

Jens,

That's very confident of you, thank you!

Boards ordered two days ago, now sourcing some tricky bits, outputs, caps, resistors.  Because this is a very new topology, my inventory needs updating, and this can only be done from the US and Singapore, so it's slow......

Unfortunately, then, I won't even put a time on it until I have word on parts and delivery.

I'm building an audition (and review!) amp today, finished the board yesterday, will put up some pictures as I fit it to the enclosure to show the appearance and layout, that's a start!

Cheers,

Hugh

[kyrill]

my hat off to you sir
very good strategic thinking ; )

and all this before your new birthday

[AKSA]

Kyrill,

I clearly have your moral support, thank you Sir!!

But now I need your commercial patronage, I can see you slotting very nicely into a new NAKSA!!   

Pat your gorgeous dog for me, I have two cats I would happily feed to him here, irritating me with their constant food fetishes,

Ah, my birthday, could be worse, I guess, I'm not yet 60, but even for a raving beauty like me I'm sure it will swing around......

Cheers,

Hugh

[Jens]

Jens,

That's very confident of you, thank you!

Boards ordered two days ago, now sourcing some tricky bits, outputs, caps, resistors.  Because this is a very new topology, my inventory needs updating, and this can only be done from the US and Singapore, so it's slow......

Unfortunately, then, I won't even put a time on it until I have word on parts and delivery.

I'm building an audition (and review!) amp today, finished the board yesterday, will put up some pictures as I fit it to the enclosure to show the appearance and layout, that's a start!

Cheers,

Hugh

Well, Hugh - sourcing is always a bit of a headache, which is very understandable.

However, I believe there are some of us that will be quite interested in a NAKSA, so when you get to the point where you are ready to supply this new wonder, it would be great if you could give us a heads up

Any news about the 100 watt NAKSA will also be very interesting indeed 

[SuperMart]

Hi guys,

My audition period with the new Naksa ended a couple of days ago and I now feel that I have recovered from the audio equivalent of a hangover, sufficiently recovered, that is, to make some hopefully helpful observations on Hugh's latest and greatest. I say greatest because I firmly believe it to be the best amp that I've had in my lounge room.

Compared to my current amp, a Soraya 2008, I felt that the Naksa bettered it in all areas of performance apart from what I would describe as heft or sense of scale. Not suprising given that the Naksa outputs 70 watts versus the 100 watts of the Soraya 2008.

In no particular order some of  the Naksa wins are as follows:

Bass - deeper, punchier and more tuneful. Quite shocking and addictive really

Detail - greater retrieval and more analogue in presentation

Background noise - much blacker and commented upon by my wife at the end of a track.

Realism - much greater. Piano, especially, sounds more bell-like.

My experience mirrored Russ's comments in all aspects save my lust for some more watts to fatten up the sound on some choral recordings.

Now where's the queue for one of these things?

Cheers,

[Tliner]

Hi All,

I have been fence sitting regarding the performence of the NAKSA. I was not too sure that I was hearing something really special. I suppose I was slightly awe struck when I heard it. Russ and Marty have now confirmed my impressions of it. I have heard the Soraya CB105 and the Maya 150w amps too. I have a Maya 100w job. The speakers used are VSonics so that is a constant. I must admit that my initial impressions of the NAKSA had me a little confused as it made music sound so "real" overall. Sure it is 70 watts and may as a result lacks a small tad of sheer grunt but its overall "organic musicality" is a winner.

One point in particular I agree with Marty is that a piano now sounds bell-like, but more importantly the notes have body with excellent decay too. You can hear the body of the instrument and other notes all clearly playing their part particularly when the pianist uses the sustain pedal. Simillarly with a double bass too, where you can feel the body of the bass when the srtings are pucked along with the harmonics that other strings produce. The NAKSA makes for a whole musical experience leaving very little behind on the CD.

The bass is certainally cleaner but with more musical punch, slam or whatever. Basically there appears to be no emphasis on any particular part of the musical spectrum. The NAKSA is a very smooth performer.

At the moment I have Hugh's VSonics here for a physical after the hammering they got at the Melbourne Audio Club presentation last month when Hugh decided to use the full 150w of the new Mayer for a few minutes. All the crossover components measured thye same as they did when new and nothing apeared to be cooked. There was no distortion at all or added colouration, the sound was just louder. Last wednesday, at a club meeting members were still expressing their appreciation of the demonstration.

But eat your hearts out, music is even better with four VSonics playing at the same time. Basically all these speakers going is that they provide a very wide sound stage with more punch, much like having a more powerful amp. But the WAF is very low indeed even though she really appreciates the music.

Yes, Hugh has excelled again, even outdone himself this time. I recon!

But there is a place in his line up for the Maya and Soraya CB105 too. They sound slightly different, so I suppose it is a case of which one tickles your fancy.

Cheers,

Laurie         

[AKSA]

Marty, Laurie,

Thank you for your comments of the NAKSA.  I'm delighted with it;  it was intended as a value packed entry level module, and I am convinced will break new ground for SS audio amps.  It has innovative circuitry, is very compact, has low component count, and should be extremely reliable.  Most importantly, it sounds absolutely wonderful, giving new meaning to the oft used term, 'musical'.  This is an amp designed for music, not test tones!!

I will try to get a professional review on this amp in the next month or so.  Meanwhile, the first shipment of pcbs has arrived in Melbourne, so now I can get building.....

Cheers,

Hugh

[TimS]

This sounds promising Hugh.  I often thought about upgrading from my Aksa 55N+ to a LF but unfortunately it's always been outside of my budget so I concentrated on upgrading my GK-1 when I could.
However, the Naksa at $850 sounds like it's doable .  What's the future for the LF; do you see the Naksa superseding either of them?

Tim

[AKSA]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the post!

Yes, for sure, I think the NAKSA will quickly supersede the LF55, though I may sell off the empty boards down the track.  It's a very, very good amp, but there are no plans at this stage to supersede the LF100 for those that want a bit of extra power.

The advantage of the NAKSA is not just the performance, but the fact it's all on one pcb, very compactly mounted on a single heatsink.  This has huge advantages because it gets around the separate power supply and two trafo issues which add to cost and wiring complexity.  My thoughts are that this product will exactly hit the spot, and I'm hoping the reputation will quickly establish this as possibly the best DIY module amp in the market, bar none.

Cheers,

Hugh

[tg3]

Yes, for sure, I think the NAKSA will quickly supersede the LF55, though I may sell off the empty boards down the track.  It's a very, very good amp, but there are no plans at this stage to supersede the LF100 for those that want a bit of extra power.

I hope to release a 100W version of the NAKSA soon too, and this will supersede the AKSA100.

Have your plans for a higher power NAKSA changed?

[AKSA]

Mr Gill,

Not at this stage, but I'm keeping my powder dry.

High power amps are like wine;  people talk red, but drink white.

Cheers,

Hugh

[AKSA]

NAKSA PROTOTYPE

Here's a picture of the very first #1 NAKSA.  The new production boards are even more elegant than this, but still awaiting delivery:





It's very compact, that's a 12" x 3" heatsink immediately under the pcb, which incorporates the power supply - trafo plugs straight in without any difficulty.  This amp had undersized Nichicon Muse filter caps, only 470uF apiece, but noise was absolutely non-existent with thunderous bass.  Later production caps will be larger, of course.

Hugh

[Jens]

Hi Hugh,

What filter caps will you be using in production?

Nichicon Gold Tune or Muse are some of the best ...

[AKSA]

Hi Jens,

I've found that the quality of this cap has almost zero effect on sound quality, which came as a revelation to me.

An inexpensive cap here sounds the same as a more expensive one, remembering, of course, that they have a polarising voltage across them which always improves the sonics of any cap, including film caps.

Cheers,

Hugh

[Jens]

Hi Jens,

I've found that the quality of this cap has almost zero effect on sound quality, which came as a revelation to me.

An inexpensive cap here sounds the same as a more expensive one, remembering, of course, that they have a polarising voltage across them which always improves the sonics of any cap, including film caps.

Cheers,

Hugh

Hmmm - sounds a bit strange, but I suppose that it depends on how low-cost the caps are  There are certainly large differences in various cap parameters, depending on price. And I am thinking that amp parameters such as attack and microdynamics will be affected by cap quality ...

Are the caps 'piggy-backed' with smaller, good quality caps?

[AKSA]

Ah, Jens,

You are nitpicking, wait until you hear it, THEN you can start to change the design!

Answer to your last question is yes, two caps per rail, in fact.

Hugh

[Opus Flatus]

The layout is very neat and tidey - very nice work. The small form-factor would make for the basis of a great integrated amp. I've said it before, I really like the plug and play aspect of your design. Looking forward to product availability.

[Jens]

Ah, Jens,

You are nitpicking, wait until you hear it, THEN you can start to change the design!

Answer to your last question is yes, two caps per rail, in fact.

Hugh

Of course I am nitpicking 

But since I will be ordering two NAKSAs, it will be very easy to test - we'll just put Nichicons in one and 'Standard' caps in the other 

[guest1632]

Thank you Anand,

Errors corrected - my old web editor has huge latency, takes seconds to throw up what you have just written!

Hugh

Hi Hugh,

It never ceases to amaze me when I come here and check out what is new with you. Now a Naksa? wow! Now, are you gonna have a new preamplifier with that too? Your 100W Naksa, what will be needed for the transformer? Any idea of board size, inches please, this old Yank never really learn the Metric system, except where it comes to Ham antennas. .

Are you gonna be looking at developing more powerful Naksas besides the 100W version?What do you expect the price tag for the 100W to be in US dollars?
I don't know if I dare ask this, but have you looked at the digital amps? Some of the new breed so I am told really sound good, and are cheap to build. They might not sound as good as the Naksa though.
Ray Bronk